Surnames

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Birthday We'll Never Forget!

I just had a birthday (yesterday in fact) and have been reminiscing about past birthdays. Good ones and the not so good ones. Some funny and some not so funny. Here's one our family remembers very well.

When my sister, brother and I
were little, our Mom always made our birthday parties special. Our
grandmother, aunts, cousins, and friends were invited. She would have
a bright paper tablecloth with matching napkins and cups on the
dining room table. Mom would bake and decorate the cake herself. It
wasn't fancy by today's standards―just
an eight-inch round, two-layer, Betty Crocker cake mix.

﻿

Similar to our cake topper

Once all the games were played and the presents had been
opened, we'd all march into the dining room and grab the nearest
chair. Grandma and all the aunts were lined up along the wall. We
would be waiting for the arrival of the cake. Mom had a very special
cake topper she would bring out only on birthdays. It was a round,
plastic, carousel-theme with horses affixed to the tent with string.
On the back of the base was the wind-up key. When you turned the key
the little horses would flair out over the cake. We would all sing
the birthday song. The candles would be blown out, Mom would remove
the cake topper, then cut and serve a piece to everyone.

The one item we I never saw at
any other birthday party was the individual ice cream cups with their
own wooden paddle spoon. Mom didn't just scoop ice cream from a
carton and drop it on our plate next to a slice of cake.
No-siree-Bob! Everyone had their very own ice cream cup! She would
call out, “Who wants chocolate? Who wants vanilla?” I don't know
how she understood everyone with different answers flying around the
room. We would pull the cardboard lid off the top, and dig in with
that wooden paddle spoon.

My fifth birthday was different.
It was the one we would not forget and will talk about for years.

Everything was going like
clockwork. Grandma, aunts, cousins and friends were here. The table
was set, the ice cream cups were in the freezer, the cake was in the
kitchen along with the cake topper.

After the games were played and
presents opened we traipsed to the table. Lots of talking, laughing
and joking around the room. Everyone had their ice cream cups and
the cake was on the table. The candles were lit, the carousel was
wound-up, whirling and twirling on top the cake. Everyone started
singing, but before I could make a wish and blow out the candles,
WHOOSH!! The cake topper caught fire. A flame went straight up and
the cake topper melted into the cake.

Mom picked up the nearest paper
cups and threw soda on the flames. Suddenly, the aunts were tossing
different things on top of it to smother the fire. Smoke curled up
toward the ceiling. The carousel horses had been swinging out and
some actually flew into the candles. Several aunts grabbed kids and
ran for the door. Others scattered to a nearby room.

Kids and adults were stunned as
they stared at what was left of the pile of burnt, melted plastic,
wet cake and liquified frosting. My major concern wasn't that my cake
had caught fire, it was that I was having a birthday with no cake.
I remember putting my finger
into the frosting and wanting to taste it.

That was the end of our very special cake topper. We never had
another one like it. The cakes mom continued to make were still the
eight-inch round, two-layer, Betty Crocker cake mix; but now, she
bought the peel and stick edible candy decorations that had candle
holders and letters you could spell out Happy Birthday. They made
the cake look fantastic.

Later birthday parties were not
as exciting as a cake on fire, but they were fun just the same. Every
once in a while, we'd reminisce about my fifth birthday “blow out!”